During a trip to India in February, Bahrain’s King Hamad Al Khalifa visited Mahatma Gandhi’s shrine. The King praised Gandhi as someone “who believed in his cause, which he pursued until it was realised”. Gandhi’s cause, of course, was gaining independence for India against British colonial rule. Bahrain, too, gained independence from Britain in 1971, following a decades long struggle by its citizens. However, King Hamad has suggested that Bahrain’s ruling family were not so keen on independence. At a reception held in his honour last May, the King told assembled British dignitaries that his father (the former ruler) had said at the time: “Why? No one asked you to go!” Following Bahrain’s nominal independence, popular uprisings began to occur roughly once a decade, seeking genuine democracy and the wresting of power away from the ruling family: here.

Political, rights, and civil society activists launched a campaign under the slogan “Kingdom of Demolished Mosques”. The campaign marks the 3rd anniversary of the demolition of 38 mosques in Bahrain, by the regime, during the state of emergency, between March and April 2011. The campaign was launched on the same day of the demolition of Al-Barbaghi Mosque which is more than 450 years old. The regime still insists on keeping it in ruins, and is attempting to relocate the historic mosque: here.

An oil well fire that started in Bahrain on Saturday could take days to extinguish as the country waits for specialist fire-fighting equipment to arrive, a spokesman at Bahrain’s state oil company Bapco said on Tuesday: here.